The Witching Hour
by Menolly5600
Summary: RockmanMegaman X. Rated for blood and robotic gore. Written in honor of Halloween. Everyone, even the greatest of Hunters, is haunted by something. And the skeletons come out to play during the witching hour of the night.


Hey all! Look, I'm not dead.

In honor of Halloween, I wrote up this little sort of stand alone piece. Hope you enjoy. Be sure to click the button and leave a review telling me what you think.

Have a happy and safe All Hallows Eve!

**Disclaimer:**

I am not Capcom. Therefore, I do not own Megaman/Rockman X or any of its characters. Please don't sue me. I'm already broke enough as it is.

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**The Witching Hour **

There was a click and a hiss of releasing pressure in the darkness.

A gust of air fluttered through Zero's bangs as he blinked open his eyes, squinting slightly at the light. He sat up slowly and looked around. He could tell he was sitting in a capsule, but the bright light made it difficult to see around him. A fuzzy, vaguely person-shaped silhouette moved closer to him from the side. Zero turned his head to look, but he couldn't make it out enough to get an idea of whom it might be. There were lights in his eyes, making them water as he squinted.

So he stood up.

Zero was standing on old, cracked pavement. Spread out before him were the decayed ruins of what might have once been a city. What had once been buildings were collapsed piles of rubble. Skeletal frames of metal struts and beams rose out of the debris like bent and broken fingers reaching for the sky, or the ribs of some long dead beast. Something clattered dully behind him, like a piece of concrete tumbling down the side of a pile.

Zero turned around.

Water dripped in the dim light, echoing in the cavernous room. The abandoned halls echoed with the metallic thunk of Zero's boots as he shifted his weight. Zero cocked his head to the side, listening to the empty silence echo around him. Then there was the sound of rustling cloth and the light tread of footsteps. Zero tensed, turning toward the sound. A short figure stood just within the shadows, the meager light not quite sufficient to make out his features. But his silhouette was unmistakably familiar.

The slightly stooped figure of the old man shifted his stance, his white lab coat rustled as his body language conveyed disappointment and displeasure. The handlebar mustache quivered as his accented voice echoed around the room. The voice was cracked with age, and dripping with angry displeasure.

"My creation… my _masterpiece_… Why have you failed me?"

Zero's eyes narrowed in anger, but he bit back the growl that threatened and hissed dangerously at the old man. "I don't answer to _you_."

"I _made_ you… Prototype Zero… you are _mine_."

This time, Zero couldn't hold back the snarl. "I don't belong to you!"

"You _do_! You are mine! Yet you defy my will… your _purpose_. It is your Fate, your reason for existing! You _will_ destroy the last of that fool Thomas's creations!"

"_Never!_" Zero snarled, drawing his Z-Saber and holding it threateningly. The plasma jet cast eerie dancing shadows and washed the area in chill green light.

"Kill him! _Kill_ Rockman X! It is _my command_! You are mine! _Obey me!_"

"_Never!_" Zero screamed and lunged forward, slashing with his saber. The shadowy figure vanished with a cackle of laughter as the beam saber sliced through its body. The cackling laugh echoed through the silent room, seeming to bounce off the walls and circle around Zero.

Zero snarled and spun around.

"_Never!_" Zero shouted to the empty room. "I won't kill him! I _refuse_!" He cried out as he stood on the stage in front of the podium and faced the empty expanse of seats in the new recruit lecture hall. Bright lights washed the stage, casting the rest of the room into dim gloom and shadows. The cackling voice faded away into the gloom, leaving Zero standing alone on the stage, lips pulled back in a snarl of rage and chest heaving from the force of his conviction.

Zero stared out at the gloom and dared the old man to show himself again. The room remained in silence as Zero waited.

An agonized scream split the silence and Zero's heart leapt up into his throat. Another shriek rent the air as a familiar masculine voice cried out in pain. Zero was moving before he'd consciously decided to act. He leaped off the podium stage and raced up the aisle, hitting the doors at full speed and not slowing down as they threw them open and dashed through.

Zero raced down the hallway as he followed the agonized cries of his best friend.

Zero dashed through the shadowed, dim hallways of HQ. X's screams of pain leading him on. Inside his mind, Zero repeated in endless litany, '_I'm coming. I'm coming. Hold on, X. I'm coming._' His desperate pleas raced in time with his beating cardio-pump and pounding feet.

As he raced around corners and dashed down halls, X's screams became less and less frequent. _'No. No. I'm coming. Hold on, X. Hold on. I'm coming.'_ X's cries were sounding weaker and weaker as he ran.

Then Zero skidded around a corner and slipped. He caught himself and glanced down as he got his feet under him to rush off again. His stomach lurched as he saw he'd slid on a slick of red blood. Zero looked up and his mouth went dry as his eyes widened in horror, his heart clenching in fear.

Blood splattered across the hallway that lay before him. The walls were scored and slashed in places, as though from a saber or other plasma beam weapon. Liquid crimson dripped down the walls from sprays of blood and pooled on the floor. Halfway down the hall, the dribbles and splashes on the floor became a pool. A thick smear, as of something dragged along the floor, led away from the pool and vanished around the next corner.

Zero dashed down the hall, trying not to think about how much blood was on the walls and smeared across the floor. He skidded around the corner and saw that the blood trail vanished under a closed door at the end of this hallway. As he ran to the door, saber gripped in his hand, body tensed to attack whatever or whoever had done this, it occurred to him that he hadn't heard X cry out again. '_Please, let him have just passed out. Let him be alive. Hang on X. I'm here. I'm coming.'_

Zero kicked the door open and ducked to the side out of the line of fire. But there was no response from inside. So he swung around the doorframe, saber leading, as he dropped into a crouch to the side, eyes darting around to locate the occupants.

Zero crouched on the floor against the wall of X's quarters.

Zero's gaze was immediately drawn to the pieces of blue armor that scattered the carpet. Some were sliced or mangled, but still recognizable, and all the pieces were spattered or smeared with blood. There was no movement in the room. The only sound was the hum of Zero's saber and an odd wet wheezing sound. There was no one else in the room, and from his crouch Zero's view of the entire room was unobstructed except for the area behind the sofa.

Zero uncurled from his crouch and stood, stepping to the side to see around the sofa, and then sucked in a shocked gasp. X lay sprawled on the floor, on his back, staring up at the ceiling. All around him, the carpet was soaked through with blood. There was so much it was starting to pool around his body. The shredded remains of his bodysuit hung off his limbs in the few places his synthflesh hadn't been lacerated, clinging because they were sticky with his blood. X's limbs were slashed, burnt by plasma in some places, and bleeding out onto the floor.

X had been gutted. A great slash cut from the center of his ribcage to his groin. The synthflesh had been peeled back, exposing his bleeding, mangled internals. Sparks fizzled out and hissed in the pooling blood inside his body cavity. Tubing, wires, and mangled bits of his internals spilled out over his hips as though they'd been dragged out of his belly.

Zero stood for a timeless instant; frozen in place, terrified that if he went any closer he'd discover X was dead. Yet, Zero was almost desperate to know if he'd lost the closest thing he'd ever had to a brother. And then X's chest rose as he inhaled, as another wet gurgling wheeze broke the silence. Zero darted forward, dropping to his knees beside X's body, not even aware of when he'd started moving.

Zero activated his comm. system, opening a channel to the med ward. However, all he heard was static. Only static and empty air answered him as he cycled through every HQ channel he had on file.

X's face was smeared with blood, but was undamaged. His mouth gaped partially open, blood trickling from the corners of his lips as he wheezed and panted for air. His eyes were open, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

"X? No… X…" Zero's voice broke as he hesitantly reached out to touch his cheek. He blinked furiously as his vision blurred slightly, and felt warm liquid track down his cheek.

X flinched at the touch. Then his head slowly turned and he looked up at Zero. His green eyes were glazed and filled with pain as he tried to focus, and at the sight of Zero, they widened with fear. X whimpered and tried to pull away. Tears leaked out of the corners of his eyes and mixed with the smears of blood as they ran down his face.

"X? N-no. I'm… I'm- It's okay. It's… it'll be okay, X." Zero shifted closer to him, reaching out to hold him still as tears rolled unheeded down Zero's face.

X whimpered, terror on his face, and tried desperately to pull back away from Zero. His shattered hands scrabbled uselessly on the bloody carpet. "…no…no… please… no… stop… don't… no… oh please… no…" X's panicked, pain-filled voice was weak, barely above a desperate, pleading whimper.

"X? No, no. It's… You're safe now. I- I- It'll be okay." Zero shifted to catch X's shoulders to stop him from moving. X froze at his touch, staring up at him like a frightened hare seeing the hawk stooping for the kill. Zero choked back a sob and pulled X carefully into his lap, cradling his broken body. X sobbed and whimpered, trying to pull away.

"N-no, X. It's… It's okay now. I- I- I'm here. I'll… I'll get you to the medward. You- you're safe now. I won't hurt you." Zero's voice cracked as he spoke, gathering X against his chest, bracing to lift him and stand as tears trailed down his cheeks and dripped off onto X's face and into his hair.

X whimpered, slumping defeatedly in Zero's arms. As Zero's tears dropped onto his face he looked up at Zero, wheezing in a gurgling breath before meeting his gaze. "…why? …why Zero….?" His weak, choked voice faded away as the light in his eyes died and his face and body went slack.

"….X?" Zero's voice wavered as he brought one hand up to touch the slack face. "…._X!_ N-n-_No!_ X! **_X!_**" Zero screamed as a sob was torn out of his throat, and curled over X's broken body, clutching him to his chest as he slumped forward.

Soft, giggling laughter echoed around the room. Zero's head snapped up. Tears streaked his face as he reflexively clutched X's lifeless body to his chest, and he faced the source of the laughter. A figure stood on the far side of the room, nearly hidden in shadows in the doorway to the bathroom. The laughter intensified, taking on an insane edge as the figure shifted and stepped out into the light.

Zero recoiled and stared in shocked horror at himself.

The other Zero's eyes gleamed with a sickly red light as he pulled his blood-covered lips back in a grin, baring sharp canine teeth in a bloody smile, still giggling madly. His armor matched Zero's perfectly, except for the blood that nearly coated him, and the shredded synthflesh that was caught in the wrists of his gauntlets.

Zero was too shocked to move as the bloody double stepped forward and licked his tongue over his lips. Smiling as he savored the taste of X's blood. "Why, he asks?" the mad Zero purred. "He already knows why, Zero."

Zero stared, frozen in place, his mouth working as he tried to form some sort of sound.

The insane Zero laughed darkly as he tilted his head inquisitively and pulled his bloody lips back in a caricature of a smile. "Didn't you know? It was his Fate to die. You _cared_ about him."

Zero shook his head in denial. "…N-no. no…"

"Oh, _yes_. And he thought of you like a brother, didn't he." The other Zero grinned even wider, showing sharp canine teeth. "He _trusted_ you." He licked some of the blood off his lips with a smug grin. "Just like _her_. Don't you see?" He grinned nastily, baring his teeth in a feral, exultant smile as he crouched into the same position Zero was kneeling in, bringing his hand around from behind him to reveal a bundle wrapped in some sort of rust colored cloth. The maverick Zero shifted to cradle the bundle, much like Zero still held onto X's still body.

The blood-covered maverick brought one hand up to gently, almost hideously lovingly, peel back the layers of cloth. As he peeled them back, Zero could see that they were stiff and the rusty red color seemed to flake off, and with a sick feeling he realized that the cloth was caked with old dried blood.

"Such complete trust," the maverick purred in a throaty, dark voice, tinged with madness and delight. He pushed back the final layer of cloth, revealing a severed head with a horrifyingly familiar face frozen in a mask of pain and terror. Iris' eyes stared emptily up at the maverick, frozen eternally wide in the shock and fear of her last moment of life.

Zero recoiled in horror, and desperately clutched X's body against his chest, unsure if he was protecting himself or all he had left of his best friend from this new horror. His mouth opened in a silent scream, but there was no sound. His eyes widened in horror as the bloody maverick purred delightedly down at Iris' severed head.

The maverick purred and stroked one hand over her cheek, leaving smears of fresh blood across her face. "She saw, oh yes, she did." He lifted his head and met Zero's blue eyes with his faintly glowing red gaze. "_Everyone_ you care about dies." Then he grinned nastily at Zero again, looking smug and pleased with himself. "_We_ kill them."

"…N-no." Zero tried to move, but he was frozen in place – his limbs refusing to obey him. The hideous caricature of himself simply grinned madly back at him, his eyes laughing at his horror and fear. And then the red-eyed demon lifted one bloody hand and extended it out toward Zero. And Zero watched in frozen shock as his own hand mimicked the maverick, reaching out toward his extending hand. And then, just as their hands were about to touch, his fingers touched something solid and smooth and his palm contacted the surface.

Zero stared in horrified realization as his bloody hand splayed across the surface of the mirror and slid down it, leaving behind crimson smears. The coppery, slick taste of blood was in his mouth and he felt his tongue slide across his lips as he watched the maverick reflection mirroring him as he licked more of the blood off his lips. He felt as well as heard a mad snickering giggle bubbling up through his throat and watched in horror as his reflection laughed and dug its fingers into the body of X that he cradled in his arms. Zero felt his own fingers digging into synthflesh and feeling it give and split under the pressure, still warm reploid blood welling up as his hand clawed into the already shredded flesh of X's chest.

Then a figure stepped out of the darkness behind Zero. The shadows seemed to cling to him, and Zero couldn't quite make out its features. But the silhouette was unmistakably familiar as his 'father,' the old man. An old, bony, liver-spotted hand gripped his shoulder proprietarily and the old man's laughter cackled through the shadowed room, joining with Zero's mad giggling. The withered old hand tightened on Zero's shoulder as the cackling died away. "Well done, my son!" The old, accented voice was filled with pride and vindicated delight and Zero felt an answering rush of pride and satisfied accomplishment fill him at his father's words.

And no one heard Zero as he screamed and screamed, trapped inside his mind, watching and feeling without any control.

There was a click and a hiss of releasing pressure in the darkness…

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The End.


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